Algeria Inaugurates World’s Third-Biggest Mosque

The interior of the Great Mosque of Algiers, also known as Djamaa el-Djazair, on the eve of its inauguration in the Algerian capital
The interior of the Great Mosque of Algiers, also known as Djamaa el-Djazair, on the eve of its inauguration in the Algerian capital
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Algeria Inaugurates World’s Third-Biggest Mosque

The interior of the Great Mosque of Algiers, also known as Djamaa el-Djazair, on the eve of its inauguration in the Algerian capital
The interior of the Great Mosque of Algiers, also known as Djamaa el-Djazair, on the eve of its inauguration in the Algerian capital

Algeria's Grand Mosque, the world's third-biggest and Africa's largest, will host its first public prayers on Wednesday, a year and a half after construction was completed.

Known locally as the Djamaa el-Djazair, the modernist structure extends across 27.75 hectares.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had been expected to inaugurate the mosque's prayer hall -- whose maximum capacity is 120,000 -- at the event on Wednesday, the eve of the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, AFP reported.

But his presence was in doubt after his office announced the day before that he had been hospitalized.

Tebboune had gone into self-isolation last week following suspected coronavirus cases among his aides, but the presidency said Tuesday that Tebboune's "state of health does not raise any concern."

It was unclear how many people would be allowed to attend the prayers amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The mosque's interior, in Andalusian style, is decorated in wood, marble and alabaster.

It features six kilometers of Koranic text in Arabic calligraphy, along with turquoise prayer mats.

The mosque aims to be an important theological, cultural and research center, and the complex includes a library that can host a million books.

Featuring geometric architecture, it also boasts the world's tallest minaret -- 267 meters -- fitted with elevators and a viewing platform that looks out over the capital and the Bay of Algiers.

The tallest such structure had previously been a 210-meter minaret in the Moroccan city of Casablanca.

But it has all come at a cost of over $1 billion in public money, according to finance ministry figures.

The seven-year construction work was completed in April 2019, three years behind schedule, and the company in charge, China State Construction Engineering (CSCEC), brought in laborers from China.

"There is a mosque in almost every neighborhood," said Said Benmehdi, an Algiers resident in his seventies, whose two children are both unemployed.

He told AFP bitterly that he would have preferred for the "state to build factories and let young people work.”

Sociologist Belakhdar Mezouar said the mosque "was not built for the people."

It is the "work of a man (Abdelaziz Bouteflika) who wanted to compete with neighboring Morocco, make his name eternal and put this construction on his CV, so he could get into paradise on judgement day," he said, adding that his opinion was widely shared.

Nadir Djermoune, who teaches town planning, criticized the "ostentatious choice" of such mega projects at a time when he said Algeria needed new health, education, sporting and recreational facilities.

The mosque is "isolated from the real needs of the city in terms of infrastructure,” he said.

The most positive point, he said, was its modernist concept, which "will serve as a model for future architectural projects."



‘War Ruined Me’: Lebanon’s Farmers Mourn Lost Season

This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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‘War Ruined Me’: Lebanon’s Farmers Mourn Lost Season

This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

Lebanese farmer Abu Taleb briefly returned to his orchard last month to salvage an avocado harvest but ran away empty handed as soon as Israeli air raids began.

"The war broke out just before the first harvest season," said Abu Taleb, displaced from the village of Tayr Debba near the southern city Tyre.

"When I went back in mid-October, it was deserted... it was scary," said the father of two, who is now sheltering in Tripoli more than 160 kilometers to the north and asked to be identified by a pseudonym because of security concerns.

Abu Taleb said his harvesting attempt was interrupted by an Israeli raid on the neighboring town of Markaba.

He was forced back to Tripoli without the avocados he usually exports every year.

Agricultural regions in Lebanon have been caught in the crossfire since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah ramped up in October last year, a full-scale war breaking out on September 23.

The UN's agriculture agency, FAO, said more than 1,909 hectares of farmland in south Lebanon had been damaged or left unharvested between October last year and September 28.

The conflict has also displaced more than half a million people, including farmers who abandoned their crops just when they were ready to harvest.

Hani Saad had to abandon 120 hectares of farmland in the southern region of Nabatiyeh, which is rich in citrus and avocado plantations.

"If the ceasefire takes place within a month, I can save the harvest, otherwise, the whole season is ruined," said Saad who has been displaced to the coastal city of Jounieh, north of Beirut.

When an Israeli strike sparked a fire in one of Saad's orchards, he had to pay out of his own pocket for the fuel of the fire engine that extinguished the blaze.

His employees, meanwhile, have fled. Of 32 workers, 28 have left, mainly to neighboring Syria.

- 'Worst phase' -

Israeli strikes have put at least two land crossings with Syria out of service, blocking a key export route for produce and crops.

Airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon as insurance costs soar.

This has dealt a deadly blow to agricultural exports, most of which are destined for Gulf Arab states.

Fruit exporter Chadi Kaadan said exports to the Gulf have dropped by more than 50 percent.

The supply surplus in the local market has caused prices to plummet at home, he added.

"In the end, it is the farmer who loses," said Saad who used to earn $5,000 a day before the war started. Today, he barely manages $300.

While avocados can stay on the tree for months, they are starting to run out of water following Israeli strikes on irrigation channels, Saad said.

Citrus fruits and cherimoyas have already started to fall.

"The war has ruined me. I spend my time in front of the TV waiting for a ceasefire so I can return to my livelihood," Saad told AFP.

Gaby Hage, a resident of the Christian town of Rmeish, on the border with Israel, is one of the few farmers who decided to stay in south Lebanon.

He has only been able to harvest 100 of his 350 olive trees, which were left untended for a year because of cross-border strikes.

"I took advantage of a slight lull in the fighting to pick what I could," he told AFP.

Hage said agriculture was a lifeline for the inhabitants of his town, which has been cut off by the war.

Ibrahim Tarchichi, president of the farmers' union in the Bekaa Valley, which was hit hard by the strikes, believes that agriculture in Lebanon is going through the "worst phase" of its recent history.

"I have experienced four wars, it has never been this serious," he said.